While the underlying motive of a marketing campaign is to sell products and services, it is not necessarily the goal. The true goal of a marketing campaign is to show the right ads to the right people at the right time. If that can be done, then sales will follow.
Now more than ever, it is important to make sure that you understand targeting. Starting on January 28th, Google is changing the way that ads are shown on their Display Network and YouTube. Unless a campaign has specified targeting, the ads will be served to the entire Google Display Network and all of YouTube. This could cost you a lot of money without even reaching the right people. (Google Plus Announcement)
Don’t scramble to change all of your AdWords setting just yet. First, familiarize yourself with some basic terms to better understand how your ads are targeted and how to evaluate them:
1. Placement
Placement targeting allows you more control to choose specific sites within Google’s network to show your ads. This type of targeting does not require keywords.
2. Affinity Audience
Select from Google sets that deliver ads to people based on what they have shown interest in. The ads will show to these people even as they browse sites that are unrelated to that topic.
3. Demographics
Demographic information is an easy setting to layer on top of your other targeting efforts. If you know your primary audience, you can narrow your ads to show to specific groups based on age, gender, and parental status. Video campaigns can also target household income based on their percentage bracket in the US.
4. Contextual
In Display Network, you have the option to target keywords by Audience or by Context. This setting restricts the sites that your ad will show on based on if the language, text, and page structure of the site relate to your keywords.
5. Topics
Similar to Contextual Keywords, you can select to have your ads shown in the display network on sites related to specific topics and subtopics already defined by Google.
6. Device
The options for Device Targeting go beyond just selecting mobile and desktop. You can choose to have your ads targeted to show in different areas on apps or when mobile users are web browsing.
7. Location
If your service area is limited, or you want to reach people in a specific location, you can choose to limit your targets by country, region, selecting a radius around a geographic location, or by location groups.
8. Location of Interest
Targeting can go beyond the physical location of the person conducting the search. With Location of Interest targeting, Google uses past searches, past physical locations, and context to target customers that are interested in your services.
9. Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RSLA)
The sales journey shows that there is a process people go through before committing to purchasing products or services. RSLA’s can help you reach those that are early on the journey by targeting individuals that have visited your site the next time they search for your campaign’s keywords.
10. Remarketing & Interests
We have all seen the ads that follow you around the web. Similar to RSLA’s, Google’s Display Network allows you to create a tracking pixel on your site and compile a list of visitors. As your prospective customers continue browsing online, Google will show your ads across the hundreds of website partners in their network.
If you need assistance with your Google AdWords campaign, please don’t hesitate to contact Informatics.
